Kazakhstan’s Reforms Should Be More Than Just Show
The January unrest in Kazakhstan revealed to its leadership the dangers of ignoring systemic inequality, corruption, and a repressive political environment and put the need for comprehensive socioeconomic and political reforms at the top of the government’s agenda. The sense of domestic instability has been further exacerbated by the looming uncertainties of the spillover effects of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Indeed, the international sanctions on the Russian economy have already had devastating secondary impacts in Kazakhstan, with the tenge, Kazakhstan’s currency, dropping 20 percent in value and food prices soaring.
In light of these developments, domestic audiences had hoped President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s State of the Nation address would chart a path to comprehensive political and economic change.… Seguir leyendo »